Travelling exhibition "from counter stern to stem: sailing ships of the 18th and 19th centuries" at Hellenic Maritime Museum
The exhibition "from counter stern to stem: sailing ships of the 18th and 19th centuries" is presented at the Hellenic Maritime Museum from October 30, 2024 to November 23, 2024. It is held under the auspices and support of the Directorate of Modern Cultural and Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Ministry of Culture and the Hellenic Maritime Museum.
The exhibition was designed and constructed in the framework of the research project "PROMOTION OF THE MARITIME CULTURAL HERITAGE WITH THE DEVELOPMENT OF A COMPLETE 3D DIGITAL REPRESENTATION OF HISTORIC SAILBOATS" (VIRTUAL HISTORIC SAILING SHIPS - VHSS).
It includes presentations and explanations of documents on shipbuilding and navigation during the last period of sailing in Greece, using new technology, such as:
- 3D digital representations of 19th century Greek sailing ships.
- 3D reconstructions of the shipbuilding and sailing of sailing ships with original experimental virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) devices.
- Development of digital applications for 19th century sailing ships through the experience of naval modelling.
For the preparation of the exhibition, original archival and museum material was recorded and studied, such as:
- Recording and study of historical and illustrative documents on shipbuilding and navigation in the 18th and 19th centuries.
- Digital scanning, design mapping and technical analysis of historical ship models (made by modellers of the 19th and early 20th century) which are preserved in the Benaki Museum, the National Historical Museum and the Industrial Museum of Ermoupolis.
- Creation of 3D digital replicas of 19th century sailing ships.
- Creation of experimental applications of representation, interaction and immersion on the construction and sailing of sailing ships.
- Investigation of the results of the public presentation of the project in order to optimize the digital interaction and immersion applications on sailing topics.
For the preparation of the exhibition, as well as for the implementation of the research project, the following organizations cooperated:
- Folklife and Ethnological Museum of Macedonia Thrace (FEMM-TH)
- Institute for Mediterranean Studies of the Foundation for Research and Technology — Hellas (IMS-FORTH)
- Department of Product & Systems Design Engineering of the University of the Aegean (UoA-DPSDE)
- Design and construction company TETRAGON S.A.
The research project was funded by EPAnEK and NSRF under the framework "Open Innovation in Culture" for the period 2020-2023.
